Lhasa shmasa

I'm alive!

I know you're all shocked, but I made it to 5180 meters above sea level and I didn't even get sick! Well, ok, I felt pretty rotten at some points, but at least I didn't throw up (and there were plenty of people who did). I'm still getting used to the feeling of walking uphill all the time. Lhasa itself is at about 4000 meters, I think, and it's hard to imagine that a couple thousand meters could make such a difference, but it does. It feels a little like having worked out too hard.

The train ride here was, well, interesting. I was definitely glad we had gone all out and paid for the expensive sleepers, but that didn't change the fact that we were stuck in a very small space (with very little fresh air) for two days. The first few (like 12 or so) hours were fine. We got comfortable and went to bed relatively early and I slept well. The next morning I woke up to the praying of the muslim woman next to me (one of the two people Dan and I shared a cabin with). The praying was fine, very quiet and peaceful, and I was ready to wake up anyway. It was her breakfast that was a little on the loud side. Chinese people eat soup louder than you probably imagine possible.

To make a long story short, I went from fine to extremely clausterphobic as the day progressed, and the fact that we ascended at least a thousand meters didn't help. I had a headache all afternoon and didn't feel like dealing with the hordes of people coming into our cabin to visit the matriarch. The other guy who shared with us wasn't a can of peaches either, but at least he wasn't traveling with dozens of family members. To be fair, the woman's entire family was very generous and they were very nice to us, it was just a tad crowded.

Later in the day, both of our roommates got off the train, and we were left with a cabin to ourselves!! I felt better, because we had more space, and worse, because we had less air. There was an incident in the restaurant car with the waitress lying to us, and me getting perhaps just a little too indignant about it, which didn't make things any better. I have issues with people thinking i'm stupid, or that I can't do math, or that a bowl of rice costs five kuai when it says one kuai on the menu (and the menu was in English mind you).

Sleeping that night was hard to say the least. I had trouble convincing myself that I wasn't suffocating. The next day, however, was significantly better and I began to acclimatize. As a side note, breakfast was amusing because it was not unlike the incident in Besancon (where the waitress told me there was no salad when there was). The waitress who had lied to us the previous day told us there was no breakfast, so we had to ask the other one to get service. In the end, we got our breakfast (more or less) as it should have been, but I hope my life never depends on that woman because she clearly doesn't like us.

We arrived at Lhasa at 9ish and grabbed a cab to the center. We were trying to find the hostel I had reserved for Dan and I, but it turned out to be a tad difficult. We were tired and grouchy by the time we finally found it, but it turned out to be nothing like what it promised. They actually lied about the accommodation and used pictures from another hostel. The people there were really friendly though and we might have stayed, except I was dying for a hot shower, and when I saw the shared bathroom, I knew that wouldn't be happening there. A really nice Tibetan girl, who presumably wanted to practice her English, helped us find another place which was close by and not bad.

Today we finally got to see Lhasa! The old town is cool, filled with markets and pilgrims and monks and very few Westerners this time of year. It wasn't cold at all today, so we just walked and walked and ate and walked some more. We had some good dumplings, some yak meat stew, some tortilla type things (they weren't unlike your typical flour tortillas, but filled with herbed cream cheese and vegetables and meat), and I did give yak butter tea a try, but I think it must take some getting used to (it pretty much tastes like you're drinkig melted butter).

Aside from the fact that Lhasa is a lot smaller than I'd imagined (at least the traditional part), the only annoyance is that there are constantly people asking for money. The people here are poor, but they aren't lacking. It's mostly kids that come asking and the occasional monk. I was pretty sure monks weren't supposed to ask for money, but I may be mistaken. It's also worth noting that a fair number of monks have nice sneakers and/or cell phones. Dan played pool with one monk/hustler, who consequently beat the pants off him. Luckily the price for losing was only one kuai.

While we walked the "circuit" some old woman blessed me, or something like that. Ok, really, I have no clue what she said to me, but she was smiling and put her thumb up as she said whatever it was, so I have to imagine it was good. Or, maybe she was smiling at the thought of my eternal damnation and thumbs up in Tibetan means "up yours," but I have my doubts.

Tonight we went out to dinner with two French guys with whom we're trying to orchestrate a trip to Mount Everest this week. It was amusing because we went to the only restaurant in the Lonely Planet guide that was open, and so did every other foreigner in Lhasa. I haven't seen that many Western faces in one place in a long time.

And now it's time for bed. Dan and I have to wake up early to help bargain for our trip. I am getting sort of tired of bargaining, but being on a budget makes it a necessity. It's funny, though, that a theoretically communist country has one of the most capitalist economies (at least on a micro level).